Celebrity Meghan Markle / Rachel Meghan Markle / Meghan, Duchess of Sussex / Meghan Sussex / The Alliterate One - Markle Snarkle

[John Andrews Stan]

So she's promoting her brand without product and doesn't seem to be interested in making more product to capitalize on the supposed popularity of her product.

She’s been saying since launch that they’d be doing “seasonal drops” of products. There’s nothing inherently wrong or objectionable about that model. The fact that she’s delivering unremarkable products at a huge premium is what’s galling.

The new episode of her podcast is out and the guest is the founder of the Kitsch hair accessories brand, Cassandra Thurswell. Thurswell bootstrapped her company with $30,000 of her own money and it’s now worth $87 million (on paper). Meghan mostly talks about herself and how brave she is for not taking investment in As Ever.

The truth is that she would never be able to handle having investors. Managing investors can be a full-time job in itself, and investors want to be heard and have their say influencing brand and product roadmaps. M is way too much of a control freak for that. Plus investors want to see a major return on their investments — typically 3-10x what they initially put into the company.

What she doesn’t say is whether or not she took out a business loan or used her own money to finance everything. What she does say to the woman whose company is so much more successful than hers is “I’m so proud of you.” I have a strong dislike of women — especially younger and lesser accomplished women — saying “I’m proud of you” to other women. It’s very patronizing and condescending IMO. Which is very on-brand for Meghan, isn’t it?

 

[duckling]

following up on @John Andrews Stan's synopsis, here's an excerpt of the episode from @Meghan on instagram.

Honestly I never really consumed Meghan's content before this thread, I just laughed at articles about her but I have to say now that I've listened to her a bit her vocal inflections are incredibly annoying.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

35 is not some unfathomably ancient age to decide to have children. Yes, she spent her 20s and early 30s building her career as she didn't have the social status someone like Diana was born into. That career put her in that place where she could find a partner who could provide absolute security and support for her and her children throughout their lives. It took longer but that's the trade-off.

(Kate Middleton's courtship of Will was just as calculated, she transferred universities just so she could throw herself in his path.)

Of course, I'm sure it didn't hurt that said children would be literal royalty. I also do not buy for a single second Meg's claim that she didn't know who Harry and Will were when she was growing up. I'm around her age and they were absolute teen heartthrobs when we were kids, even in the US.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

Kate Middleton's courtship of Will was just as calculated, she transferred universities just so she could throw herself in his path.

That is not accurate.

Meghan’s former best friend has said Meghan was obsessed with Princess Diana and the BRF. This is the friend photographed outside Buckingham Palace with her as a teenager. Meghan lies.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

That is not accurate.

Oh yes, I'm sure the ethereal and effortless Saint Catherine had no interest in being Queen of England and, alongside her sister, wasn't known starting in primary school as being a cutthroat social striver

Meghan’s former best friend has said Meghan was obsessed with Princess Diana and the BRF. This is the friend photographed outside Buckingham Palace with her as a teenager. Meghan lies.

Yes, we agree.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

Catherine and William made the Time 100 list, noted as innovators and influencers, while Meghan didn’t make the list at all.

Also enjoy watching a fly buzz around Meghan’s face during her wedding. At one point it appears to land, but the video quality isn’t good enough to be definitive.

 

[Rich Evans Simp]

I have a conspiracy theory that Kate and William were already together before they “met” at St. Andrews. Emilia d’Erlanger was one of Kate’s best friends at Marlborough, and Emilia is on record as being part of William’s social set while at Eton.

Let’s say Carole Middleton pushed Kate to go to St. Andrews to be in William’s proximity - how could she guarantee that they’d both be placed in the same residence hall? Wouldn’t the Palace have ultimate say in William’s dorm mates, not just security vetted but taking preferences into account? Also, they moved in together (with flatmates Olivia Bleasdale and Fergus Boyd as cover) in their second year. An awfully fast relationship progression for upper-class teenagers.

Emilia was linked as a possible girlfriend of William’s and is now godmother to their child. I think that in the pre-social media, post-Diana media detente era that they were able to sell a revised version of the truth. The flatmates story at the time was that the four of them were all just friends. When the story broke in 2004 that they were a couple (pictures of them together at Klosters) they acknowledged that the relationship had been secret “for about a year” but I think it goes back further.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

When the story broke in 2004 that they were a couple (pictures of them together at Klosters) they acknowledged that the relationship had been secret “for about a year” but I think it goes back further.

Honestly, given his rank and with her being a commoner and Diana's whole experience with the press, the last thing a smart person would do would be to rush into having a relationship openly, since if it didn't last Kate would still forever be in the news. Even a year is a pretty short time frame to ascertain a lasting relationship given the risks they were taking.

I think you're probably right, and either way it makes William look far more intelligent than Harry (not that that's hard). Take it slow, build a solid friendship for a relationship foundation and make sure she can act the part of a queen with all the bullshit that entails.

 

[Fapcop]

.

What she doesn’t say is whether or not she took out a business loan or used her own money to finance everything.

Pretty sure there was almost zero actual investment.

The actual product is likely either sourced from other companies or it’s straight up off label shit. (Forgot what the exact term for it is. Basically like when Walmart asks Big Cookie Co to make their usual cookies but put them in a Walmart brand bag.

Given all the secrecy about sourcing, I’d say there’s no way that they didn’t just buy their product from another jam/tea/pancake mix company, and just had them slap their own “fancy” packaging on.

The actual expenses would be very low, depending on how the deal was written.
(Like 0$ down, profits split 50/50, for example.)

 

[Écho Öwl]

Pretty sure there was almost zero actual investment.

The actual product is likely either sourced from other companies or it’s straight up off label shit. (Forgot what the exact term for it is. Basically like when Walmart asks Big Cookie Co to make their usual cookies but put them in a Walmart brand bag.

Given all the secrecy about sourcing, I’d say there’s no way that they didn’t just buy their product from another jam/tea/pancake mix company, and just had them slap their own “fancy” packaging on.

The actual expenses would be very low, depending on how the deal was written.
(Like 0$ down, profits split 50/50, for example.)

« white label » is the term your looking for.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

For this conspiracy theory to be true, all of these women (and their friends and families) would have had to have been in on this and have never said about a word about it for over 20 years:

• Rose Farquhar
Considered William’s first serious girlfriend; they reportedly remained friends after the brief romance

• Arabella Musgrave
The daughter of a prominent polo club manager; the relationship ended when William left for St. Andrews University

• Olivia Hunt
Dated briefly at the start of his time at St. Andrews before meeting Kate

• Carly Massy-Birch
Dated 2001 (at St. Andrews)

• Jecca Craig
Considered by some to be his “one who got away” — and when people were speculating on Kate’s whereabouts before her cancer announcement, there was a conspiracy theory that William was the father of her child and that they were back together.

I don’t believe this is realistic.

Pretty sure there was almost zero actual investment.

The products are not white label. Apart from the products, the PR and marketing (including the website, Shopify, video production, etc.) all cost money. She didn’t need millions for this but “almost zero” isn’t realistic.

 

[Fapcop]

Oh yes, I'm sure the ethereal and effortless Saint Catherine had no interest in being Queen of England and, alongside her sister, wasn't known starting in primary school as being a cutthroat social striver

Tbf: Catherine comes across as someone who’s a little too smart to ruthlessly chase a crown that way.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s fun to stand on the balcony and the occasional royal tour. But like 95% of it isn’t nearly as glamorous or fun.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

Tbf: Catherine comes across as someone who’s a little too smart to ruthlessly chase a crown that way.

Not just that, but the assertion that Kate was a “social striver” since elementary school is a new one and not based in reality.

 

[Yakka Hula]

I could understand Catherine gunning for William from a younger age; I was between generations with the BRF (nevermind the Atlantic between us), and had eyes for Edward when I was much younger.

Whether or not she really chased hard after William, it obviously worked for her though, as they still seem to be a great and loving couple. Unlike Markle and Hairy, who - let’s be honest - barely made 5 years as a happily married couple. I doubt they’re still as IN WUV! as they’re putting on.

 

[Fapcop]

Whether or not she really chased hard after William, it obviously worked for her though, as they still seem to be a great and loving couple.

They really are. Aren’t they? I’m not exactly a big royalist, but that family is just swell and Kate is so effortlessly classy and… Royal.

Unlike Markle and Hairy, who - let’s be honest - barely made 5 years as a happily married couple. I doubt they’re still as IN WUV! as they’re putting on.

Meghan is exactly the kind of low iq, but cunning narc, who’d chase a prince like her life depended on it.

I do t buy for a second that Kate somehow “chased” the crown because lord knows she was put through the wringer through the eight years they were together.

She would also be smart enough to realize that there was no way to guarantee that she wouldn’t be turned into another Fergie or Andrew (or even Charles) by the Press.

Yes, King Charles has done a marvelous job at rehabilitating his public image, but let’s not forget that he was treated like a joke and weirdo for decades.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

I could understand Catherine gunning for William from a younger age; I was between generations with the BRF (nevermind the Atlantic between us), and had eyes for Edward when I was much younger.

Whether or not she really chased hard after William, it obviously worked for her though, as they still seem to be a great and loving couple. Unlike Markle and Hairy, who - let’s be honest - barely made 5 years as a happily married couple. I doubt they’re still as IN WUV! as they’re putting on.

William was quite tasty-looking when he was younger; can't blame Catherine for being attracted.
And I thought Andrew was handsome in the early 80s.

 

[MongInTheMirror]

William was quite tasty-looking when he was younger; can't blame Catherine for being attracted.

No shit, look at him! No crown required to explain Catherine's interest. If he was some rugby team anon in my school or something as a teenager I would have probably followed him around like a hormonal gosling. In retrospect now, of course, I just feel kinda terrible for him, because he got a lot of insane Beatles-esque histrionics from teenage girls which would be overwhelming for anyone - but particularly so while attempting public grieving.

Obviously teenage boys dealing with the onslaught of puberty hormones is an issue unto itself, but teenage girls can be fucking terrifying in the intensity of their parasocial attachment to 'heartthrobs'.

Spoiler: Silly childhood story

My own dad took me and some friends to a boyband concert once when I was a tween, god bless him, as we were much too young to go unsupervised. Even then, he was a kinda grizzled old guy with the kind of background where he'd seen a lot of scary things in his life, but I swear... his face when that band came out and the 10,000,000 decibel, nigh out-of-human-hearing-range screeching started, and the hysterical hair-pulling...



oh man, I wish we'd had smartphones at the time or I would have preserved that expression forever. I still laugh when I think about it. I think staring down an oncoming Panzer like that Tiananmen square guy would have scared him less. He looked like we had all suddenly been possessed by demons and he had no idea where the nearest priest was.

I also think Meghan was 100% angling to 'level up' and either get William to have an affair with her, or at least throw a monkey wrench in his marriage to spite Catherine. There are a ridiculous number of photos of her gazing at him all doe-eyed, and bear in mind this is a woman known to clock a solitary camera lens at 500 yards:

Whether or not she really chased hard after William, it obviously worked for her though, as they still seem to be a great and loving couple. Unlike Markle and Hairy, who - let’s be honest - barely made 5 years as a happily married couple. I doubt they’re still as IN WUV! as they’re putting on.

...which is precisely why I personally don't believe that she and Harry were ever really 'in love' in the sense that ordinary people would mean it. For one, if Markle is even half the narcissist she comes across as, she's entirely incapable of it. While I don't doubt Harry's little(r) brain may have thought he was 'in love' at first, I doubt that lasted very long once they'd self-deported from England. I'd imagine life got very hard for Harry, very fast, once all her other scapegoats are gone. Total armchair psychiatry speculation here, of course, but she definitely seems like the type with a perpetual need to have someone on her shitlist at any given moment. It keeps them from ever dwelling on the hounds of their own mediocrity, forever nipping at their ankles.

 

[John Andrews Stan]

There are a ridiculous number of photos of her gazing at him all doe-eyed

A producer of my acquaintance says that Meghan had a reputation in Hollywood for being the kind of actress you’d never want to be alone with; apparently she was always overly familiar and seemed to be on the make. The fear was that she’d make a pass and perhaps claim she’d been sexually harassed. “You’d never even have lunch alone with an actress who’s that tactile and friendly,” in his words.

she definitely seems like the type with a perpetual need to have someone on her shitlist at any given moment

Yes because the fame and praise she got from writing that letter about the dish soap commercial taught her that throwing tantrums under the guise of avenging the downtrodden was the way to go in life. From then on she always had someone in her sights to take down. As the former Archewell employee told Vanity Fair, she’s playing checkers — not even chess — but she knows where people are on her board.

 

[duckling]

she definitely seems like the type with a perpetual need to have someone on her shitlist at any given moment. It keeps them from ever dwelling on the hounds of their own mediocrity, forever nipping at their ankles.

This is more or less fact.

Worth remembering the quote from the email from Jason Knauf to William’s private secretary, Simon Case, which got leaked just before the Oprah interview:

"I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable."

"The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights," Knauf continued. "She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y."

 

[Free the Pedos]

Whether or not she really chased hard after William, it obviously worked for her though, as they still seem to be a great and loving couple

I’ve always thought “so what if she did chase him?” They’re apparently a strong couple, she’s enriched the family and serves them well. It sounds like it worked out well for everyone.